When I think back to the beginning of my running journey, I can’t help but recall what was, believe it or not, the only time I’ve ever experienced the fabled runner’s high. Well, you may be saying to yourself, what do you mean? What about after one of those big races? Or long training runs? Or a particularly notable speed work session? (Haha, who am I kidding with that one?)
No, it wasn’t after I finished my first half marathon (ouch), or marathon (double ouch), or even ultramarathon (all the ouches plus some choice expletives for good measure). No, it actually came near the end of the ‘Couch to 5K’ program when I ran 30 consecutive minutes for the first time without having to walk.
I won’t bore you with recounting the entire program. In brief, ‘Couch to 5K’ is the app I used to go from nothing to something in about 8 or so weeks. It starts slow with short “runs” (sometimes only 15 or 30 seconds long) followed by walks. Over time, you add more running and less walking. It’s a simple enough concept. And near the end, as you prepare for your first ‘5K Marathon’ (haha), one of the final efforts is a 30-minute continuous run with no walking.
I know, I know. 30 whole minutes? But back then that was a lot for me. I felt the same apprehension tackling that 30-minute run that I felt at the start line of the first 100-mile race I ever attempted. But that’s part of it, I think. For the first time, I discovered a limit I never knew existed, and then pushed through it. 30 minutes of running came and went, and when it was over, I couldn’t believe I had managed such an impressive–to me at the time, at least–feat of endurance.
And here we are now, almost 11 years later, with over 21,000-plus miles of running under my belt, and nearly a hundred races on the results tab. I’ve come a long way since that first 30-minute run. Even now, I’m still a work in progress, but I like to think I’m a little bit better now than I was then. ‘Continuous forward progress’ is my mantra. Even when I fail, fail forward. Learn something. Become better for it. And yet….
Even now, I’m still chasing the high I felt after finishing that first 30-minute run, and maybe one day I’ll capture it again.